DAY 11

Traveler. I feel every bit a traveler at this stage of the journey. Since May 31st, I’ve taken 6 trains, 5 coaches, 1 Uber, 1 taxi, and countless rides on the tube. I’ve covered over 53 miles on foot. I’ve eaten healthy amounts of Jaffa Cakes, Victoria sponges, drank liters of tea, coffee and water and held my own with local ciders. But, boy, am I beat tonight!

Traveling back to London today wasn’t near as difficult as the cross-country travel earlier in the week. However, today was the hottest day so far this year in the UK with temps topping out in the upper 80s. After having such false hope last week with chilly (perfect IMO) weather, today was a shock. Maybe it’s Mother Nature trying to acclimate me to a typical Kentucky climate. Today was hot. And humid. And I wasn’t having any of it.

Let’s jump in and look at today:

• Blockley – One last walk up the hill by St. Peter’s and Paul’s to Blockley Cafe for a latte. I had the chance to sneak into a choir practice at Father Brown’s church where they were being lead by a sweet, white haired lady no bigger than my Mammaw. This did my soul good.
• Moreton-in-Marsh – This is the nearest train station to Blockley. If you follow any cozy BBC mysteries, each village has a specific name often times 2 or 3 names hyphenated. I’ve learned that these are named for their geographic locations. Moreton-in-Marsh is near (and on) a marshland. Stratford-upon-Avon is the town located upon the River Avon.
• Paddington Street Station – Thankfully I only had one train this time. My hope was to get an Uber to take me to my hotel, but it seemed that Ubers (or any other car service) was not to be found. So, back to the Underground.
• Underground – Now, the tube is quite the labyrinth under the city. Fantastic public transportation. Not so fantastic when you’re dragging around 50 lbs of luggage up and down stairs. (Again, finding a lift was nearly impossible.) I’ve already made a massage appointment for when I get home because my back is wrecked. Bless the strangers who approached asking if I needed help – to which, of course, I denied because I AM WOMAN. ROAR. And stupid.
• Prime London Hotel – Finally, after literally dripping with sweat, I arrived at my home for the next 5 days. GREAT! And they have a lift! But that’s where the good news ended. Apparently the aircon in my room seemed to be on fritz…no worries, they said, maintenance was coming, they said. In the meantime, I was given a desktop fan. Super. So, I cleaned up a bit and headed back out (where it was cooler).
• Westfield Shopping Mall – I had an unfortunate mishap with one of my shoes while in Stratford yesterday, and those are the shoes I’d planned for another upcoming appointment. So, shopping out of necessity was on today’s agenda. Fine – shopping. Easy, right? HOLY MOLY. This was easily the largest shopping center I’ve ever visited…ever. Pretty sure it was the size of Scott County. It was massive and my legs were already beat from walking a good 4+ miles by this point. Spoiler: I didn’t find any shoes.
• Back “home” – No maintenance, no air and now, no Wi-Fi. The concierge was extremely apologetic and I should be moving to another room tomorrow (they were full for tonight). So, here I am updating my blog with a fan in my face and just reminiscing about our time in Kampala.